The federal government is set to view same-sex marriages on the same legal ground as heterosexual couples in legal proceedings, such as when filing bankruptcy and paying debts, a move that has some groups fuming.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder on Saturday said his office was
preparing to approve legislation that would remove the legal
distinction between same-sex and opposite-sex married couples in
the federal criminal justice system.

“In every courthouse, in every proceeding and in every place
where a member of the Department of Justice stands on behalf of
the United States, they will strive to ensure that same-sex
marriages receive the same privileges, protections and rights as
opposite-sex marriages,” Holder told a gala meeting of Human
Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest LGBT lobbying organization in
the United States.

The announcement comes after the US Supreme Court ruled in June
that it is unconstitutional to deny same-sex marriage partners
federal benefits in states where the practice is legal.

Gay marriages are legal in just 17 of the 50 US states, as well
as the District of Columbia.

On Monday, the Justice Department will "formally instruct all
department employees to give lawful same-sex marriages full and
equal recognition, to the greatest extent possible under the
law," according to early excerpts of the statement released by
Reuters.

Last year’s controversial Supreme Court ruling did away with a
section of a 1996 federal law, the Defense of Marriage Act, which
once prevented the US government from legally recognizing
same-sex unions.

Since then, the Obama administration has been rewriting federal
rules that permit same-sex partners to enjoy the same federal
benefits extended to heterosexual couples, including the handling
of debts and taxes, as well as “spousal privilege,” which is the
right to refuse to give testimony that may force an individual to
incriminate his or her spouse.

The new legislation applies even in cases where same-sex
marriages are not recognized in the state where the couple lives.

In a speech last week to the Swedish parliament, Holder defended
the decision to recognize same-sex unions, calling it “the civil
rights challenge of our time.”

"Just as our forebears came together to overcome tremendous
adversity - and to forge the more just and more equal societies
in which we now live - so, too, must the current generation rise
to the causes that have become the struggles of our day; the
defining civil rights challenges of our time," he said.

"I believe one of these struggles is the fight for equality for
our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender - or LGBT -
citizens."

Holder praised Swedish lawmakers for legalizing same-sex marriage
in 2009, making the Scandinavian country the seventh country to
pass such legislation.

"The news that the Justice Department will extend sweeping
recognition to 'marriages' of same-sex couples, even in states
that do not recognize such unions, is yet another illustration of
the lawlessness of this administration," Tony Perkins, president
of the Family Research Council, said in a statement.

Perkins questioned why the Supreme Court last year required the
federal government to recognize same-sex marriages in states that
allow them, while at the same time remaining "conspicuously
silent on the status of such couples when they reside in a state
which considers them unmarried."

"The Obama administration's haste to nevertheless recognize such
unions in every state actually runs counter to the Windsor
decision's emphasis on the federal government's obligation to
defer to state definitions of marriage," he added, referring to
the Supreme Court ruling in the United States v. Windsor case,
which opened the door to the federal government recognizing such
unions.

Meanwhile, the debate on same-sex marriage continues to rage in
many states, including Utah, where a federal judge said in
December that the state’s ban was unconstitutional.

The real fireworks, however, erupted after Holder said the
federal government would recognize those 1,300 marriage licenses
obtained in Utah, after a federal judge declared the state’s ban
on same-sex marriages as “unconstitutional.”

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert released a statement saying he was "very
disappointed an activist federal judge is attempting to override
the will of the people of Utah."

State opponents of gay marriage accused Holder and the Justice
Department of using excessive federal powers in a matter that
involves state jurisdiction.